534 Biof/raphical Sketch of 



restored. Among'st many other things, he has taught us that, in 

 pasture, if you do not regard cost, you may at pleasure, by 

 different applications, regulate the herbage ; and that suitable 

 artificial manures are not mere stimulants, but may be depended 

 upon with certainty to feed a crop. Busy as Mr. Thompson was, 

 he rarely failed to pay a seasonable visit in order every year 

 to study the uncut experimental crops : the practical man felt 

 that then, and for years and years to come, the scientific 

 agriculturists would tread on classic ground at Rothamsted.* 



Covered foldyards claim a moment's attention here. Mr. 

 Thompson's letter, describing those designed and constructed 

 by him, appears in the second series of the Journal, vol. i. 

 There is also a detailed account by another writer. The cost is 

 small, and the design simple and satisfactory. Tall posts of 

 home-grown timber support a wide central-span roof and the 

 inner ends of surrounding pent-houses, all covered with pantiles 

 and glass — the span roof, with a wide interval for ample ventila- 

 tion, sails over umbrella-like, and overlaps the lower pent-house 

 roofing. 



" Grass land and its management, with especial reference to the 

 production of meat " — 1872 — is the title of a paper completed by 

 Mr. Thompson after much sweat of the brain. It is considered 

 one of the best practical papers that ever appeared in our prac- 

 tical Journal. Full of ripe experience and thought, both in 

 point of style and method, it is the best of his agricultural 

 Avritings. This paper has been published separately, it has 

 been widely distributed, and it should be in the hands of every- 

 one interested in its especially important subject. — The agri- 

 cultural problem of our day — no ignoble object — milk and 

 meat in due season — the essential food of an ever-increasing 

 people. 



As President of the Society, the Presidential Address de- 

 livered by Mr. Thompson at the end of the year 1866 comes 

 as a fine close to the history of his long literary career in con- 

 nection with the agriculture of England, as represented by the 

 Royal Agricultural Society. He taught the lesson of his life 

 — Press on ! 



Peace and good-will towards men the President teaches at 

 the outset of his address. Stand on common ground ; forget 

 class interest ; landlord and tenant in the future, as in the past, 



* Within the limits of a paragraph It is Impossible to do adequate justice to 

 this branch of our subject. For an account of the Experimental Farm and 

 Laboratories at Rothamsted, we must refer the curious reader to the ' Journal of 

 the Eoyal Agricultural vSociety,' vol. xxv., p. 2S5. See also vol. xvii., p. 55. The 

 late Speaker Denison (Lord Ossington), in speaking of the progress of Agricul- 

 tural Chemistry, says : " To Mr. Lawes mast be assigned by Eiiglish fanners tlie 

 place of honour." 



